


At Sundown

by Scarletz_z



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crimes & Criminals, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22375063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarletz_z/pseuds/Scarletz_z
Summary: Konoha didn’t breathe. It was the first thing Naruto noticed about the secluded city. Even on nights like these when the air buzzed with activity, beneath the whirr of traffic and the chatter across the evening street markets, there was that stillness. It was an odd sort of silence that underlaid the city’s being, apprehensive almost, as if every building had taken a long deep breath they refused to release. It was odd, extremely unnerving, and left in the atmosphere a feeling of anxiousness. Something secretive. It made Naruto more than a little bit uncomfortable. But this was home now.At least that was what Iruka had said.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, others
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	At Sundown

**Author's Note:**

> First try at a Sasunaru fanfic.   
> I put a lot into this but like- I  
> hope i can maintain enough  
> interest to actually keep it  
> going after 💀 enjoyyy

Konoha didn’t breathe. It was the first thing Naruto noticed about the secluded city. Even on nights like these when the air buzzed with activity, beneath the whirr of traffic and the chatter across the evening street markets, there was that stillness. It was an odd sort of silence that underlaid the city’s being, apprehensive almost, as if every building had taken a long deep breath they refused to release. It was odd, extremely unnerving, and left in the atmosphere a feeling of anxiousness. Something secretive. It made Naruto more than a little bit uncomfortable. But this was home now. At least that was what Iruka had said.

Turning a sharp corner past a clothing stand wedged at the very end of the market, Naruto let out a quiet breath he himself hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Perhaps it was the air of the city seeping into his unconscious. The sidewalk dipped down ever so slightly with the landscape and Naruto let his eyelids fall close over the azure of his eyes, feet lifting off the pedals of his bike so gravity could take the wheels. The evening breeze helped somewhat to ease the building feeling of unease at the base of his stomach, the same feeling he’d been getting since they moved in a week ago. Iruka had dismissed it as simple nervousness from having to adjust to a new environment, but Naruto knew what being nervous felt like. This wasn’t it. Eyes opening ever so slightly, the male focused on his steady breathing, pushing aside the quiet evening chatter until it blended into the blur of the street wheezing past his head. If he focused harder he could hear the subtle rustling of the plastic bags hanging on the handlebars, the groceries shifting ever so slightly in their containment.

“Oi kid !”

Naruto’s focus broke at the sound of a male’s voice, a quiet “huh?” leaving his lips as his gaze settled on the cart being pushed up the sidewalk a short distance in front of him. The cart took up the whole sidewalk, filled with what appeared to be clothes of some sort that hung from it’s roof. They parted at the front to reveal the worn features of what appeared to be an older woman. She seemed to be having a hard enough time pushing up the cart with no assistance, and he got the feeling him riding his bike straight into her would do little to help.

“Watch where you’re-” Eyes widening even before the male- whose face he still hadn’t spotted- called out his second warning, Naruto jerked his bike harshly to the left. Pushing himself straight into the road with oncoming traffic he cursed loudly, ignoring the concerned yelps across the small street and the loud yells of several drivers as he navigated through the busy road with extreme difficulty and incredible luck. With the road still tilted down he barely had control over his bicycle and it took a few minutes of near death experiences before he finally jerked back onto the sidewalk, wheels zipping head first into an alleyway between two low rise apartments. Pressing hard on the brakes, the bike came to a stop just before a very painful contact with the wall.

The noise of the city was now a distant whirr in the background and Naruto stared, wide eyed, at the wall, adrenaline still coursing through his veins as he took his moment to come to a full realization that what happened really had just happened.

“Holy shit..” He breathed out, repeating the curse again as he ran his fingers through the messy blonde strands of his hair. He really could have died just then, and while it was hardly his first near death experience, he sure as hell was still shaken by it.

“--- think you are?”

It was perhaps the faintest murmur one could hear, a quiet statement amidst the turmoil of Naruto’s mind. He blinked, head turning to the right where the unfinished statement had seemed to come from. The alley twisted to the right, forming a path that split into two a short distance away. The statement was met with a much quieter one, one which Naruto couldn’t pick words out of. Almost instantly the initial voice rang out again, louder this time. 

“Do you have a death wish or something? Is this funny to you?!” Clearly whoever was speaking was agitated, if the rising anger in his voice was any indication. It was moments like this that Iruka’s voice rang clearest in his head. 

“Just ignore it Naruto”

Naruto gulped, repeating the statement out loud as he shifted back on his bike, slowly moving the vehicle backwards.

Another quiet murmur. 

Naruto managed to turn his bike around, right foot already on the pedal when a loud noise rang out. It was the evident sound of metal against concrete, a sound he’d heard several times from experience in his old town. Iruka’s voice in his mind was quieter this time, hushed by Naruto’s growing conscience. 

“You can’t always play the hero”

“-- kill you”

It was the only phrase Naruto could pick out from the threatening low voice of the first person. In the moment that followed, his bike lay forgotten in the alleyway.

Naruto had been in enough of these situations to pick out the victim at first sight, but for once he was confused. After having sped down the alley in the direction of the commotion, he’d stopped dead at the entrance to the right turn he’d seen in the distance. It seemed like any other intense and unfair gang scenario, a bunch of guys armed with various dangerous looking objects cornering one person. Naruto frowned, immediately pegging the one guy as the person who needed rescuing. 

Except something was off. The mood was off, weird as it was to say. Naruto frowned, taking in the apprehension in the surrounding males as their gazes all focused on the center of the commotion. At the focus of the scene was a dark haired male pinned against the wall by another much larger one. The larger one, who Naruto assumed was the person who the first voice had belonged to, had one hand clenched around the collar of the other’s shirt, other hand holding up a slap of wood with a nail jutting out. The look on his face was pure outrage, murderous even, and Naruto’s eyes drifted to the other male in worry. But much to his surprise the male didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered. His pale face remained stoic under the impending threat, dark eyes peeking past the bangs of his air in a manner that screamed superiority complex. Despite their positions it almost felt as if he still had the upper hand. Something like fear flickered in the larger male’s eyes and Naruto wondered who the real victim was. No one had noticed his presence yet and he figured the intensity in the air between the two had something to do with it.

“Then do it”

The dark haired male’s voice was as calm as his expression as he responded to the statement Naruto had heard before. Breath catching at the easiness of his words, he chose that moment to step in.

“Hey” His voice didn’t come out nearly as confident as he’d hoped, instead coming out scratchy and a little uncertain. The gathered group turned to face him, but the two at the center kept their eyes on each other. Naruto gulped before continuing, suddenly feeling out of place in his bright orange hoodie and gray sweats.

“You guys shouldn’t be here...and no matter how you look at it, 10 armed guys versus 1- not exactly fair is it?” His voice slowly retained it’s usual confidence as he neared the end of his statement. It was at this moment that the two males at the center finally turned to look at him, one with evident irritation and the other with plain indifference. The general look from the rest seemed to insinuate that he was an idiot just for being present. And perhaps they were right, he probably should have taken Iruka’s advice, afterall the guy he thought needed help seemed to be holding well by himself. Naruto coughed and walked further in, more than prepared to fight if it came down to that.

“I don’t really know what that guy did..” He gestured at the black haired male who now seemed to be observing him calculatively, before continuing.

“But I’m sure there are other ways to settle thi- Oh for goodness sakes why are you all looking at me like that-? Never seen an attractive person before or what?” Naruto threw his hands up as he easily fell back into his supposedly obnoxious character. His small outburst seemed to finally break the silence and he pretended not to notice the unimpressed scoff that left the cornered male’s lips. He was glad he’d at least said something though, since the gruff looking male, who he could guess was the gang leader, dropped his hand that held the wood.

“And who the fuck are you?” He asked, turning his gaze back to the captured male and nudging his chin at Naruto.

“A friend?” He asked and the male in question stared blankly at Naruto but didn’t give an answer. The gang leader let out a low sinister chuckle.

“As I thought. Sasuke Uchiha doesn’t have friends” He mocked, steely gaze turning back to Naruto.

“Kid go home before you drag your arse into dangerous waters. This bastard doesn’t need saving” He ordered, and looking over to the empty gaze of the dark eyed boy, Naruto somehow could believe those words. But he’d never been good at backing down.

“No one is above saving. He’s not the devil is he?” He retorted good naturedly. At this the leader let out a loud boisterous laugh, as if he was genuinely amused. Naruto really would have thought he’d said something funny had it not been for the underlying bitterness in the sound.

“He might as well be.” He finally spoke after dropping the laugh, grip on the other’s collar tightening. He shrugged and Naruto saw pure hatred in his eyes.

“Doesn’t make a difference Anyways. If he isn’t the devil, then he’s about to meet him.”

And with that he brought up the wooden slab again, arm muscles visibly tightening as he brought it down with a speed that shouldn’t have been human. Naruto made to move, painfully aware at the back of his mind that he wouldn’t have reached them fast enough. Having just managed to get one foot ahead of himself, he froze in shock at the changed scene in front of him. The male who he now knew as Sasuke had his face covered by his arms, now slightly red where the wood had made contact with flesh. The tip of the jutting nail stayed centimeters away from his forehead, any closer and it would have broken skin.That force should have been enough to at least leave a fracture, but Sasuke hadn’t even flinched. It was shocking enough that he’d moved fast enough to block such a blow, but he hardly seemed fazed by it. The gang leader looked just as shocked, and after a second of hesitation, he moved again. From the corner of his eye he saw the other gang members move as well, also having been rendered momentarily frozen from shock. It was then that Naruto shifted as well. It was one thing blocking one guys blow, but blocking nine different sources of attack was a whole different thing. So yet again Naruto found himself in the middle of the situation Iruka had claimed was one of the main reasons they’d had to move in the first place.

It was easy enough inserting himself into the commotion, blocking all the hits that could be fatal to either himself or the mysterious male, and taking a few minor ones he was willing to handle. He landed a good amount of skilled and practices hits, weaving through the group and bringing down as many as he could. Sasuke seemed preoccupied with the leader whose skill definitely outmatched the rest of his followers, and Naruto made sure to keep part of his attention on him just in case. Fist connecting with the jaw of a careless attacker, he ignored the light crunch he heard and dipped away from the falling body and an upcoming kick. He was skilled yes, but seven guys- now six as he brought his knee up to make contact with someone’s nose- was still a lot to handle on his own, and he groaned as he took an elbow to the side.

“Hey! What’s going on here?!”

“Oh shit!” A loud curse bounced through the alleyway as blinding lights infiltrated the dark space. Naruto himself could recognize the police when they were involved. He cursed silently, letting go of the guy whose collar he had in his hand. Though everyone broke into a frenzy in an attempt to escape, the tight space hardly made that easy, especially not when the police had found another entrance and were now heading in from the other direction. 

“Freeze!”

The shouts of the police easily got lost under the blinding light and the sound of his heavy breathing. The world seemed to have slowed as it usually did in these situations, and he surveyed the area. Three guys down, seven guys standing- including the boss and excluding him. One was missing. Naruto frowned, surveying the area for a certain dark haired male. He cursed when it dawned on him that the male had found a way to escape.

“That bastard..” He whispered, chest heaving as annoyance slowly replaced the adrenaline coursing through him.

“--hands up!”

Naruto just barely registered the order, not until blinding light was directly pointed at his face.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said hands up!” The same police offer repeated the order. Finally letting the words sink in, he slowly raised his hands to his head, eyes following the path he’d come from when he’d entered the scene. He remembered his bike was still lying abandoned further down the alley. Along with the groceries that were supposed to be home 40 minutes ago.

Iruka was going to kill him.

“I’m. going. to. kill. You.”

Naruto grimaced at the sharpness of each word, fingers scratching the back of his head as they usually did when he was nervous. He didn’t even have the chance to come up with a mediocre excuse, much less a proper one, before Iruka’s voice once again slashed through the phone line.

“It’s only been one week Naruto. One. Week. Heck school starts tomorrow- You haven’t even started school yet and you’re already picking fights?” He barked out, the sound of hasty ruffling in the background had Naruto imagining that the older male once again had misplaced his car keys.

“I wasn’t the one who started it I was just helpin-” Before the defense could fully slip past his lips, Iruka’s more insistent one rang out.

“Helping? That’s what you always seem to be doing right before getting yourself into the worst of situations. I keep telling you that you can’t play the part of everyone’s hero Naruto. There are certain times when it’s best to just walk aw-”

“Walk away yes I know. But they were going to kill him” He hissed lowly into the phone, glancing cautiously around the police station. At the far end of the room the gang members were detained in a cell while he being a minor, had been forced to call his guardian after having to listen to the same painful speech he’d heard one too many times about mixing with the wrong crowd. Iruka took in a deep breath, about to say something but pausing momentarily with a silent curse as more rummaging could be heard from the background. Naruto sighed and let his eyes fall close as he mentally reminded himself of all the possible locations Iruka could have left his keys.

“Check the second kitchen drawer. The one by the fridge with the ketchup stain” He advised and Iruka huffed in annoyance, the light shuffling indicating that he was moving to check anyways.

“I already checked there it’s not- oh” Naruto bit back a triumphant comment as the older male grumbled something under his breath, the quiet jingle of the keys still audible from his end of the line.

“Anyways, my point is- I don’t really care much for whatever reason you had for getting involved Naruto. We had an agreement that you’d try to be as low key as possible here in Konoha. It’s been a week and honestly you being at the police station already is as bad of a sign as far as signs go. Now I’m coming to pick you up and you’re going to look me in the eyes and swear to me that nothing of this sort will happen again. Am I clear?”

Naruto took in a deep breath after Iruka was done, eyes falling to stare pointlessly at the ground while his free hand found its way into a pocket. Iruka had always prioritized his well being over everything else, and to say Naruto felt guilty about the amount of time he made the male stress over situations like this would have been an understatement. Yet somehow he just couldn’t bring himself to say no when someone was in need of help. And these days everyone needed help.

Facing Iruka on the phone had been difficult, but staring him straight in the eye was practically impossible. Hell if Naruto hadn’t done it enough times by then, he’d have hidden before the male came. It wasn’t like the older was particularly scary, but the guilt that weighed hard on his shoulders every time he saw that look of pure exasperation was what had him trembling. 

“Well? I’m waiting.”

The blonde gulped and averted his gaze to the nearby lamp, not at all confident enough to meet those eyes. They were standing outside the police station, having been dismissed after Iruka had spoken with the cop that had brought him in and signed some papers. Clearly not a good sign. He knew what Iruka wanted to hear, had said it enough times for it to be considered almost routine.

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” At his apology, a quiet breath left Iruka and Naruto peeked up to see that he was very much unconvinced.

“Say it to my face Naruto, at least try to be believable.” He spoke, previous agitation now replaced with a tiredness that did nothing to ease Naruto’s guilt. After some hesitation he stared up at the taller male, dreading what he was about to say. If there was anything he hated it was lying to Iruka. Especially straight to his face. But Naruto knew himself, knew that trouble followed him around like some soulmagnet and there was no way in hell he wouldn’t get himself into these situations. His loud mouth, louder personality and irreplaceable sense of justice simply left no room for discretion. But he had to at least ease some stress off of Iruka’s shoulders. At least for now.

“I’m sorry Iruka. It won’t happen again.”

After a moment of silence, Iruka sighed and wordlessly made his way to the car parked only a few feet away. Naruto followed, convincing himself that the disbelieving look that had crossed his guardian’s face had not bothered him. And like that they drove home, only remembering the discarded bike and groceries halfway into dinner. Naruto had seen Iruka have bad days, but never had he seen the male head straight to bed without his usual bath time routine.

Iruka was a lot of things, none of which even came close to daring. He’d always preferred playing things safe, especially in places where anything else seemed to scream trouble. And no, not the easy kind of trouble one buried with money or a good reputation, but the kind of trouble that quite literally ended lives. Places like Konoha were not places one would want to seek trouble. It was why he’d hoped to God that he’d never have to return to the forsaken place. Yet here he was. No. Here he was with Naruto. He’d easily have left the boy back in Kiri, but with the reputation the kid had built up there added onto the pure fact that he couldn’t leave Naruto alone anywhere, he’d had no choice but to make the decision. Plus somehow he’d always known they’d end up back here at some point. Afterall it was to be expected that their roots would eventually draw them back.

But this was Konoha, and Konoha had secrets. Secrets he hoped to God Naruto never discovered, secrets he himself had yet to discover and wished he never would. He’d stayed so long away from this place, but with no where else to go but the place where everything had gone wrong, what could he do? He stared blankly at the brochure on the bedside table, the smiling face on the cover only adding more to the uncertainty in his mind. Falling backwards onto his bed, he pulled the covers over himself and let his eyes fall close. The large text of the brochure title remained printed at the back of his eyelids and he took in a shaky breath. Konoha High: Boy’s Division. The name alone had him tightening his grip on the covers and the more he thought about it the more he was sure that this was all a cruel joke the universe was playing on him. Hailed as the school was around the city for its exceptional output of geniuses, the all boys private school held only painful memories for him. Unconsciously he felt his fingers dust over the large scar that stretched along the bridge of his nose, mind immediately working to push those thoughts back under the carpet. As it always did when he needed to be cheered up, his mind replaced the thoughts with ones of a certain blonde kid. A kid who was practically his son now. Iruka’s lips pulled into a small smile but that too was short lived when he was reminded of another set of scars he’d been unable to prevent. The six lines permanently etched onto the male’s cheeks was a loud enough reminder of why he couldn’t leave Naruto alone. Not again. Never again.

“Hey! At least now we both have cool looking scars on our faces~ we’re like a badass pair”

Iruka didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or tear up at the piece of memory that slipped out the carpet and his hands moved up to cover his face. Naruto, troublesome as he was, was the very definition of purity. Pure things didn’t belong in Konoha. Certainly not in that treacherous excuse for a private school. He’d only agreed to this because there had hardly been a choice, plus he’d been promised that since his departure nothing had been short of peaceful at the school. But this was Konoha. Something was always happening- whether that meant up front or in the background. Iruka let his hands drop from his face, eyes now staring at the darkness beneath his covers.

“This was a terrible idea.”


End file.
